Roman Farm Management

Roman Farm Management

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Roman Farm Management, by Marcus Porcius Cato This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Roman Farm Management The Treatises Of Cato And Varro
Author: Marcus Porcius Cato
Release Date: April 25, 2004 [EBook #12140]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Transcriber's note: The extensive and lengthy footnotes have been renumbered and placed at the end of the book.]

ROMAN FARM MANAGEMENT
THE TREATISES OF CATO AND VARRO
DONE INTO ENGLISH, WITH NOTES OF MODERN INSTANCES
BY A VIRGINIA FARMER
1918

PREFACE
The present editor made the acquaintance of Cato and Varro standing at a book stall on the Quai Voltaire in Paris, and they carried him away in imagination, during a pleasant half hour, not to the vineyards and olive yards of Roman Italy, but to the blue hills of a far distant Virginia where the corn was beginning to tassel and the fat cattle were loafing in the pastures. Subsequently, when it appeared that there was then no readily available English version of the Roman agronomists, this translation was made, in the spirit of old Piero Vettori, the kindly Florentine scholar, whose portrait was painted by Titian and whose monument may still be seen in the Church of Santo Spirito: in the preface of his edition of Varro he says that he undertook the work, not for the purpose of displaying his learning, but to aid others in the study of an excellent author. Victorius was justified by his scholarship and the present editor has no such claim to attention: he, therefore, makes the confession frankly (to anticipate perhaps such criticism as Bentley's "a very pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but don't call it Homer") and offers the little book to those who love the country, and to read about the country amidst the crowded life of towns, with the hope that they may find in it some measure of the pleasure it has afforded the editor.
The texts and commentaries used have been those of Schneider and Keil, the latter more accurate but the former more sympathetic.
F.H. BELVOIR, Fauquier County, Virginia.
December, 1912.

FOREWORD TO SECOND EDITION
The call for a reprint of this book has afforded the opportunity to correct some errors and to make several additions to the notes.
In withholding his name from the title page the editor sought not so much to conceal his identity as to avoid the appearance of a parade in what was to him the unwonted field of polite literature. As, however, he is neither ashamed of the book nor essays the _r?le_ of
A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye,
he now and here signs his name.
FAIRFAX HARRISON.
BELVOIR HOUSE, Christmas, 1917.

CONTENTS
NOTE UPON THE ROMAN AGRONOMISTS NOTE ON THE OBLIGATION OF VIRGIL TO VARRO
* * * * *
CATO'S DE AGRICULTURA SYNOPSIS
Introduction: Of the Dignity of the Farmer Of Buying a Farm Of the Duties of the Owner Of Laying out the Farm Of Stocking the Farm Of the Duties of the Overseer Of the Duties of the Housekeeper Of the Hands Of Draining Of Preparing the Seed Bed Of Manure Of Soil Improvement Of Forage Crops Of Planting Of Pastures Of Feeding Live Stock Of the Care of Live Stock Of Cakes and Salad Of Curing Hams
VARRO'S RERUM RUSTICARUM LIBRI TRES SYNOPSIS
BOOK I
THE HUSBANDRY OF AGRICULTURE

CHAPTER
I. Introduction: the literary tradition of country life
Of the definition of Agriculture: II. a. What it is not III. b. What it is IV. The purposes of Agriculture are profit and pleasure V. The four-fold division of the study of Agriculture
_I�� Concerning the farm itself_: VI. How conformation of the land affects Agriculture VII. How character of soil affects Agriculture VIII. (A digression on the maintenance of vineyards) IX. Of the different kinds of soils X. Of the units of area used in measuring land
Of the considerations on building a steading: XI. a. Size b. Water supply XII. c. Location, with regard to health XIII. d. Arrangement
Of the protection of farm boundaries: XIV. a. Fences XV. b. Monuments XVI. Of the considerations of neighbourhood
_2�� Concerning the equipment of a farm_: XVII. } & }Of agricultural labourers XVIII.} XIX. } & }Of draught animals XX. } XXI. Of watch dogs XXII. Of farming implements
_3�� Concerning the operation of a farm_: XXIII. Of planting field crops XXIV. Of planting olives XXV. } & } Of planting vines XXVI.}
_4�� Concerning the agricultural seasons_: XXVII. } & }Of the solar measure of the year, illustrated by XXVIII.}
A CALENDAR OF AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS throughout the year, in eight seasons, viz:
XXIX. 1�� February